Can you eat your way to better control of asthma?

A study has found that nutritionally rich foods might help prevent or minimize asthma. Photo by Africa Studio/Shutterstock

SUNDAY, July 15, 2018 -- Need another reason to eat healthy? New evidence bolsters the notion that nutritionally rich foods might help prevent or minimize asthma.

While the study couldn't prove cause and effect, one asthma specialist said there's certainly no downside to eating better.

"The health benefits of a diet rich in plant foods and unprocessed foods are already well-known," said Dr. Ann Tilley, a pulmonologist at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City.

She wasn't involved in the new study, but said it "should provide additional motivation for lung doctors to discuss diet choices with their patients, and for asthma patients to choose more fruits and vegetables and fewer processed foods."

The new French research was led by Roland Andrianasolo, part of the Nutritional Epidemiology Research Team at Inserm-Inra in Paris.

He and his colleagues surveyed nearly 35,000 French adults on the number of asthma symptoms they had experienced over the past year. About a quarter of the participants had experienced at least one symptom.

The participants were also asked about their eating habits. Diets high in fruits, vegetables and whole grain cereals were rated the healthiest, while those high in meat, salt and sugar were deemed the least healthy.

After adjusting for other factors linked with asthma such as smoking and exercise, the researchers found that healthier diets were tied to a 30 percent lower risk of developing asthma symptoms for men, and a 20 percent lower risk for women.

Among participants who already had asthma, healthy eating was associated with 60 percent lower risk for "poorly controlled" symptoms in men, and a 27 percent lower risk in women, the study found.

"Our results strongly encourage the promotion of healthy diets for preventing asthma symptoms and managing the disease," Andrianasolo said in a journal news release.

How could food influence asthma? According to Andrianasolo, dietary components such as fruit, vegetables and fiber "have antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties and are elements in a healthy diet that potentially lower symptoms."

On the other hand, sugar, meat and salt "are elements with pro-inflammatory capacities that may potentially worsen symptoms of asthma," he explained.